Tomorrow's Professor: Time Management for Department Chairs

Tomorrow's Academic Careers

Time Management for Department Chairs

http://cgi.stanford.edu/~dept-ctl/cgi-bin/tomprof/postings.php

 

Don?t let yesterday use up too much of today. ? Will Rogers

 

Time, money, information, physical resources, and human resources are the five basic resources that must be managed wisely in any organization in order to achieve specific goals. The management of time, at least in principle, is an illusion in that time exists independently of the other four resources and cannot be created, bought, sold, or otherwise manipulated like the other resources (Douglass and Douglass, 1980). Money, by contrast, can be transformed into information, physical resources, and human resources; consequently, time and money are the two resources that department chairs are most concerned about. Although department chairs do not think of themselves as ?managing? human resources, these are without question the department?s most valuable asset; in fact, typically, 85 to 90 percent of a department?s budget is directly tied to human resources. Although faculty cannot be managed in the way other resources can, the chair?s leadership skills can influence faculty to perform at their optimal level. (We will discuss this in more detail in Chapters Six through Eight.)

 

In principle, time and money are not interchangeable, but for practical purposes, many tasks are of such a nature that tradeoffs between time and money can be made. For example, we hire assistants to help us perform tasks that we would otherwise have performed ourselves (trading money for time). Or we engage in services that consume our time but generate revenue that will be available for us (trading time for money). Time management is not only about prioritizing tasks and activities but also about making wise trade-offs that effectively utilize our combined resources of time and money.

 

There are many ways in which time and money are similar and some ways in which the two are fundamentally different. A similar characteristic of time and money is that wasting either one represents a lost opportunity to reach something that is of value to you or your academic unit. Perhaps the biggest difference between time and money is the attitude most people have toward consuming the two resources. All of us, from time to time, make poor financial choices that result in a loss of money (in large or small amounts) that could have been spent better. Most people feel bad about wasting money. Yet the truth is that most of us waste large portions of our own time as well as other people?s time and don?t feel the least bit bad about it.

One important element in improving your management of time is to ask the following question: Am I making wise choices in trade-offs between time and money at both the professional and the personal level? At the professional level, this mostly translates into deciding which tasks to delegate and which to do yourself. If you choose to do one yourself, you are consuming your time, and if you delegate it, you are consuming your department?s financial funds (assuming that you could reduce the hours of your assistant or colleague if you delegated less).

In making good trade-offs between time and money in your job, consider the monetary cost of every task or activity that you choose to do. For example, in deciding whether to have one or two department meetings each month, consider the cost of these meetings (more on this in Chapter Seven). Does the cost of the tasks you are doing reflect an effective use of time and money, or could those resources have been used to greater benefit elsewhere?

Scarcity Versus Abundance Mentality

Do you frequently use phrases like ?it?s a zero-sum game? or ?I can only do so much?? Do you believe that increasing resources for your academic unit is a matter of effective competition or effective cooperation? Take a look at the phrases in Table 3.1, and think about which types of words and phrases are most common in your vocabulary. If you are like most department chairs, you probably associate mostly with the words and phrases on the left side of the table, those common to people with a ?scarcity mind-set.? Scarcity-minded people think in terms of resources being limited, that there is only so much to go around, and that the only way to increase resources Is through competition. Their gain is some else?s loss. Abundance-minded people tend to focus on their potential rather than their limitations. They believe that there is ?enough for all of us,? and they regard their successful peers as mentors rather than as competitors (Covey, 1989).

Table 3.1 Expressions Commonly Used by Leaders Who Think in Terms of Scarcity and Those Who Think in Terms of Abundance

Scarcity Mind-Set Abundance Mind-Set

Budget restrictions New source of revenue

Inequity Unused potential

?There are ?haves? and ?have nots.?? ?We are all very fortunate.?

Competition Cooperation

Zero-sum game Win-win

Can only do so much No limit to our potential

Closed system Open system

Political decision Rational decision

Beyond my control Potential to influence

But wait a minute, isn?t my university?s budget fixed, so that if I get something, someone else has to give something up? If you think short-term, maybe so, but not if you think long-term. Suppose you are trying to get funding for a new tenure-track position. Does that mean that another department will have to lose one? Not necessarily. For both public and private institutions, budgets are highly dependent on total enrollment. Moreover, if you have been successful in recruiting more new students for your programs, it is likely that you have also been responsible for increasing enrollment for other departments. Departments, colleges, and universities, as well as state and federal budgets, are all open systems. They can all grow or shrink without doing so at the cost of another unit. Let?s now consider two examples involving scarcity- and abundance-minded thinking.

Example 1

At University X, near the end of an academic year, a dean announces at a chair?s meeting that the college has some residual funds that need to be spent on a onetime basis before the end of the fiscal year. The dean asks all department chairs to bring back ?wish lists? from their departments related to equipment and classroom technology enhancements for discussion at the next chairs? meeting. One particular department chair, Dr. Z, decides to devote a large portion of his next department meeting to developing such a wish list, putting more items on the list than can be covered by the funding but hoping that his department will at least get funding for its top one or two priorities as what he and his faculty consider their ?fair share.?

 

The chairs? meeting that follows turns out to be a disaster. By majority vote, it is decided to create a ?master list? that includes all of the proposed items, and each chair is given a number of votes that can be placed on any items of choice. The items that receive the most votes are then funded, up to the point where all funds have been depleted. The chairs of some of the largest departments in the college, including Dr. Z, feel that this process is unfair in that having the same voting power for every department regardless of size is unfavorable to the larger departments. Added to that, many of the small departments are forming alliances to support items of common interest, whereas the largest departments are proposing items of more isolated interest. In the end, a curious application of the 80/20 principle is achieved whereby 80 percent of the funds are given to only 20 percent of the college.

 

Example 2

At University Y, several chairs and an associate dean from the natural sciences get together to write a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) grant proposal. All science departments agree to support a proposal that is aimed at improving the quality of precalculus instruction by having more classes taught by regular mathematics faculty instead of graduate instructors and providing more extensive mentoring and training of the graduate instructors who teach courses. By thinking in terms of abundance rather than scarcity, everyone involved works in synergistic cooperation to write a win-win proposal. The chairs all agree that this project will be of benefit to the students they serve over the long term. For example, if a biology student has a bad experience in mathematics, that will increase the chance that the student will switch majors or even drop out of college completely. Seeing that all science and engineering majors have to take mathematics, a win for th

 e Mathematics Department is a win for everyone.

 

Let?s compare these two scenarios. In Example 1, the scarcity-minded thinking of everyone involved results in substantial feelings of inequity, lack of trust, and polarization between departments. A large dollar amount is spent with more negative impacts than positive. In Example 2, abundance-minded thinking allows everyone to think ?outside the box? to achieve an overall win for all. Note that in these examples, scarcity thinking happens even in the process of distributing unanticipated resources, whereas abundance thinking happens even when there are no resources to distribute.

 

I want to emphasize that being abundance-minded does not mean being in denial or ignorant of the impact that a major challenge, such as budget reduction, can have on your department?s operation. The main difference between scarcity and abundance thinking is that scarcity-minded people tend to see changes as threats and abundance-minded people see them as opportunities. Being abundance-minded does not mean that you have endless capacity to do ?more for less.? Scarcity - and abundance-minded people alike can do ?more for more? and ?less for less.? There are a number of factors over which you have no control. State budgets for higher education rise and decline with changes in the political climate and the economy. Budgets for private institutions are affected by other factors that you cannot control. A crash of the stock market can significantly lower a private institution?s endowment, and in a recession, donations tend to decline and fewer people can afford to send their kids t

 o expensive private institutions.

 

But being an effective department chair is not just about producing more with your resources. During lean times, your focus should be on protecting your key investments, namely, your valuable faculty and their loyalty. You can?t maintain the same production with fewer resources, so you should prioritize by suspending the functions that can most easily be reactivated once resources are restored, along with those that should have been eliminated anyway. Use the lean times to plan your strategy for the good times to come. History shows that good times always follow lean times, so be prepared to present your needs to your dean once resources come back to your school or college. Leaders who are negligent during the good times and panic during lean times are the ones who tend to buy high and sell low. In contrast, those who plan for the good times during the lean times are the ones who buy low and sell high.

 

How Much Is Your Time Worth?

 

Much of the time management literature points to the importance of knowing the value of your own time. Figuring out your value is not complicated math. It basically involves dividing the number of hours you work per year into your annual salary. However, there is a slight difference in what an hour of your time is worth to you and what it is worth to your institution. Douglass and Douglass (1980) give detailed instructions for figuring out how much you are costing your institution per hour, taking into account not just salary and benefits but also cost of office space, utilities, secretarial support, professional development, and equipment, and counting as total hours worked only hours during which you are actually producing (that is, subtracting time spent eating lunch, drinking coffee, going to the bathroom, checking your personal e-mail, and so on). If you had to bill your institution for the hours that you actually worked, how many ?billable? hours are you producing each

 year? Suppose you make $100,000 per year in salary and benefits and you work an estimated 2,000 hours per year. That would result in an hourly rate of $50 per hour. But when you figure in the cost of your secretarial staff, your office space, and other overhead and the percentage of time that you are being productive, it is more likely that your hourly rate is on the order of $200 to $250 (which is closer to the hourly rates charged by professional consultants).

 

Questions to Consider and Practical Tips

 

? Compile a list of the major assets among your four tangible resources: money, information, physical resources, and human resources. What proportion of your (financial) budget is associated with each of the other three resources mentioned?

? How much control do you have over each of your tangible resources? For example, what portion of your budget is locked into salaries over which you have no control?

? How much is an hour of your time worth? Add up your salary, benefits, and other work-related expenses paid by your institution, and divide it by the estimated number of hours you work per year.

? How much is an hour of ?department time? worth? Based on a calculation similar to the one suggested for your own time, how much does a one-hour meeting involving all your faculty and staff cost your institution?

? Consider the relationship between the time and money that you control at both the personal and department level. Are you making wise trade-offs between time and money? For example, could you free up time by hiring people to do things that you) or your department) are currently doing? Are there tasks that you (or your department) are currently doing for which the cost is higher than it would be to hire someone else to do them?

? Review the expressions listed in Table 3.1, and circle the ones you use most commonly in your vocabulary as a leader. Do you have a scarcity or abundance mind-set? If you are predominantly scarcity-minded, do you believe that your mind-set limits your imagination in terms of the growth and prosperity of your department?

Tomorrow's Professor: Time Management for Department Chairs

Tomorrow's Professor: Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be

http://ombudsfac.unm.edu/Article_Summaries/Becoming_a_Department_Chair.pdf

 

Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be

"While you were a faculty member, you probably had at least one colleague whom you were in the habit of avoiding. As chair, you cannot continue such conduct. You are obligated to maintain the same standards of fairness and professionalism toward every member of the department, regardless of your personal preferences."

Tomorrow's Professor Msg.#741 Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be

Folks:

The posting below looks at

becoming a department chair. It contains the executive summary and an

excerpt on the need to restructure one's relationships when

becoming a department chair, from

Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be?, by Irene W. D. Hecht in the monthly series

Effective Practices for Academic Leaders. The series is available in an electronic publication that can be

networked on a campus system to enable everyone on a campus to access the briefings at their desks

when needed, for use both as guidance for administrators and as a development materials for faculty and

others. The electronic license allows individual copying without need for permission, thus the individual

briefings lend themselves to use in workshops and seminars. For online subscription information go to:

Volume 1, No.3, March, 2006. Copyright © 2006, Stylus Publishing, LLC. Reprinted with permission.

Regards,

Rick Reis

reis@stanford.edu

--------------------------------------------- 1,736 words ---------------------------------------

Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be

By Irene W. D. Hecht

Executive Summary

This briefing is an exploration of the path an individual might take in deciding to become a department

chair. It gives advice concerning the challenges, rewards, and strategies for success and survival to

prospective chairs (and their deans). It discusses some basics about the job, and the motivation

expressed by chairs as they undertake this responsibility. It asks: "Do you really want this job?" and

explores that issue through a series of questions. It also looks at steps to take once you have said, "yes."

Introduction

Department chairs often take up their responsibilities with a sense of obligation. However, even in such

cases-perhaps even more urgently in such circumstances-prospective chairs should give careful

consideration to the nature of the work they will be taking on. The thoughts shared here derive from

twelve years of work with the American Council on Education (ACE) Department Leadership Program.

This paper is the distillation of insights gained from department chairs over informal "breakfast

conversations" and "table topic" lunch meetings and through questionnaires used at each workshop.

Excerpt:

Restructuring One's Human Relationships

While you may expect to meet new challenges in terms of tasks and time management as a new chair,

the transformation of human relationships can be a shock. These redefinitions include the following:

o Relationships with colleagues

o Relationships with students

o Relationships with staff

o Relationships with the dean's office

o Professional relationships beyond the department

o Personal relationships

Relationships with Colleagues

Comments by enrollees in the ACE national workshops for department chairs reveal that for some chairs

changes in attitude, particularly on the part of their colleagues, comes as a cruel blow. The jokes about

"going to the dark side" are hard to brush aside when behind the humor you sense a seriousness of

intent. It is not funny to be thought of as something akin to a traitor at the very moment you have

accepted complex responsibilities from the noblest of motives. To add to your misery, you may find that

conversation with your colleagues has become more formal. You may not feel welcome at the Friday

night wine bar or tavern stop. To your astonishment, you may start knowing sides of your colleagues of

which you were unaware, as they come to you with requests and complaints that they expect you to tend

to-with the solutions they want. Some will even try to pressure or maneuver you to become a party (on

their side, to be sure) to quarrels that in the past you have ignored.

It is important to keep in mind that your professional conduct toward your colleagues may also need to

change.

While you were a faculty member, you probably had at least one colleague whom you were in the habit

of avoiding. As chair, you cannot continue such conduct. You are obligated to maintain the same

standards of fairness and professionalism toward every member of the department, regardless of your

personal preferences. That does not mean you tolerate unacceptable, disruptive behavior, or that you

turn a blind eye to the neglect of professional duties. It does mean that every colleague deserves an

objective hearing and courteous responses. If a colleague needs to hear a tough message, it must be

delivered without personal invective or humiliating scorn.

Dealing with your departmental friends may pose an even greater challenge. A chair who is perceived as

playing favorites sows dissension in the department. The result over time will be a dysfunctional group

of colleagues. Once you realize that you need to re-align your attitudes and behaviors toward your

colleagues, you can begin to see their "cold shoulder" as a normal-and desirable-realignment of

relationships that serves your interests as you strive to create, preserve, or enhance your department's

quality.

Relationships with Students

In all likelihood you will continue to teach. You will have your undergraduate majors or graduate

students whom you are seeing through to the completion of their studies. You may have enjoyed an

open-door policy, whereby students dropped by at will for a chat. As chair you will find that precious

spontaneity curtailed.

Meanwhile, you will find yourself the arbiter over requests for exceptions from departmental

requirements. It is you whom students will seek out with their complaints. When those concern the

conduct of your colleagues, you can quickly find yourself dealing with awkward problems you wish had

never arrived at your door. Remember whenever you are listening to a compelling narrative that there

are always at least two sides to any story.

Do your best to concentrate on listening and asking questions without giving any sign of agreement with

a complainant's presentation. Hunt down facts mercilessly. If you believe the complaining student can

take appropriate steps to solve the problem, direct him or her to do so. Insist upon a report on the results.

If the issue is beyond the student's ability to rectify, state clearly the investigative steps you will take,

and set a time for the student to return. A good motto is "Don't let real problems fester, but do not permit

yourself to be run in circles by trivia." One of the keys to success is sniffing out the difference between

the two.

Relationships with Staff

Department Staff.

In a small department, staff relationships may initially involve only a department secretary. In larger

departments, staff may include several secretaries and fiscal, communications, technology, human

resources, or student services professionals, some or all of whom may report directly to the chair. The

importance of a well-grounded relationship and the obligations of a chair toward a department staff

person have already been discussed.

University Staff.

However, with the expansion of the chair-universe, you may well have interactions with many other

university staff. There are the building janitors; the institution's maintenance staff; campus security; and

office personnel throughout the campus. At every point at which your department is dependent on others

for services, there will be a person with whom you need to establish an effective working relationship.

Keep in mind that everyone wants to take pride in what he or she does, and you can contribute to that

sense of pride by recognizing what is being accomplished on your department's behalf.

With a sense of respect established, your department will fare much better when it needs special

assistance.

There are also all the college or university offices-from admissions, to finance, to the registrar, to the

dean and provost and president-on whom your department either depends or from whom it receives

requests for support. In the process of expanding your horizons, it is wise to gain at least a basic

understanding of the responsibilities and timetables that govern the work of the other branches of the

institution on which your department depends for support and to establish relationships with the people

in those offices. It is far easier to work out accommodations if you are willing to understand the

demands others are required to meet.

The Relationship with the Dean

One of the most important figures in a chair's expanded universe is the dean to whom he or she reports.

This is a special relationship deserving focused attention. Seek to know something about who your dean

is and what expectations the dean has for you. What has been the historic relationship between your

department and the dean's office? If your department and the dean have been at odds, how might you

resolve existing issues? If your goal is to change the relationship between department and dean, think

carefully about how that might be done.

It is also important to gauge how this dean likes to work. What is your desired ideal? Do you want to

"run your own show," keeping the dean apprised of your plans, decisions, and actions, but functioning

autonomously? Or are you a chair who hopes to create a mentee relationship with the dean?

Seek to find out your dean's preferences. Deans are as harried as chairs, and yours may not have the

margin to function as a sounding board or mentor. If you need a mentor and your dean is not

willing/able to fill that need, be sure to find another source of advice. What you can usually count on is

that the dean wants to be kept informed of your department's activities and problems in the interests of

not being blindsided or shown up as not "knowing what is going on." Do not be surprised if your dean

prefers that you present recommended solutions simultaneously with a problem you bring to her or his

attention.

Professional Relationships beyond the Department

In parallel with the expansion of your universe there is an expansion-and transformation-of human

relations and connections beyond the department. You may find yourself with many new stimulating

and personally satisfying professional connections. But keep in mind that these professional connections

are held together by the glue of your mutual responsibilities. If the professional identity of either of you

changes, the relationship may rapidly fade. Be prepared to distinguish between a true personal friendship

connection and a professional friendship, and do not take offense if changes in circumstances or

responsibility sever what was a professional friendship.

Personal Relationships

It can be unsettling to find that while your professional universe enlarges, your personal universe is in

danger of shrinking. There can be a sense of exhilaration from the new associations, but they cannot

substitute for personal friendship. In fact, you may need to give most particular attention to nurturing

your personal network at the very moment when your human contacts are multiplying. A safe human

space where you can "let down your hair" is a common need. For those with managerial responsibilities,

it is crucially important. New chairs may need to consciously redesign such personal human space.

You may, in fact, need two categories of friends. It is helpful to have at least one professional friend

with whom you can safely air your irritations, frustrations, and bafflement as a department chair. A

sympathetic interlocutor who will challenge your inspirations and visions is invaluable. The other

category of friends is for those who are not entwined in your professional universe. Spouses and

"significant others" often fill that role. Do not dilute their ability to nurture you by recruiting them to be

your professional sounding boards. That should not imply a taboo on talking about work; it does mean

that you want to be sure that your friend and family conversations are not overwhelmed by your work

world.

Tomorrow's Professor: Becoming a Department Chair: To Be or Not To Be

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Women in Academia Weekly Newsletter October 9, 2012

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Weekly Newsletter October 9, 2012

Help Us Spread the Word About WIAReport Subscriptions to WIAReport are FREE. So do your friends a favor and tell them about this opportunity to get all the latest news on women in higher education sent directly to their inbox. Please send them a link to our website and encourage them to become part of the WIAReport community. Here is a sampling of the latest news at WIAReport.com: University Study Finds That Women Talk Less Than Men in a Group Decision-Making Process The results showed that in group situations, the amount of time that women were speaking was less than 75 percent of the time that their proportion of the group would indicate. Phyllis Vroom Named Deputy President at Wayne State University The former dean of the School of Social Work will fill in at times for President Allan Gilmour who has been battling prostate cancer. ~ CALL FOR PAPERS ~ National Association of African American Studies National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies National Association of Native American Studies International Association of Asian Studies The National Association of African American Studies & Affiliates [National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies, National Association of Native American Studies, and the International Association of Asian Studies] will host its national conference in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, February 11-16, 2013. This conference is expected to have more than 3,000 attendees. In addition, not fewer than 325 research sessions, round tables, panel discussions, performances and demonstrations will be scheduled throughout the week. In addition to the many scholarly sessions, the conference will also include many exhibitors, a career fair and health screenings. Persons interested in presenting a paper, round table, etc. should submit an abstract, not to exceed two (2) pages that are related to the experiences of Africans, African-Americans, Hispanics, Latino, Native Americans, Indigenous Peoples, Asians and Asian Americans. Subjects may include, but are not limited to: literature, demographics, history, politics, economics, education, health care, fine arts, religion, social sciences, business and many other subjects. Please indicate the time required for presentation of your paper (25 OR 45 minutes). Interested scholars should submit his/her abstract with presenter’s name, institution/organization, address, phone and email no later than Friday, November 9, 2012. Please forward abstracts to: Dr. Lemuel Berry, Jr., Executive Director, NAAAS and Affiliates, PO Box 6670, Scarborough, ME 04070-6670, or by fax to 207/839-3776, or via email at naaasconference@earthlink.net.   College of Saint Elizabeth President to Step Down in June Sister Francis Raftery, the sixth president of the College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown, New Jersey, has been with the college for 38 years. The Gender Gap in Graduate Enrollments In the 2010-11 academic year there was slightly more than 1 million women enrolled in graduate programs at U.S. universities. Women made up 60.9 percent of the total enrollments in master’s degree programs and 51.2 percent of total enrollments in doctoral degree programs.     More Recent Articles • Many Teenage Victims of Dating Violence Were Abused by Two or More Partners • University of Michigan to Conduct Massive Survey of Students’ Eating Behaviors • Merrimack College to Improve Opportunities for Women Student Athletes • University of Georgia Scholar Honored for Her Book on Women’s History • Zulma Toro-Ramos Is a Finalist for Provost at the University of Arkansas Little Rock • MIT Neuroscientist Wins Lifetime Achievement Award • Boston College’s M. Brinton Lykes Wins Peace Practitioner Award • A Quartet of Women Awarded Prestigious Honors • Barbara Schaal Named the Next Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Washington University • Two New Associate Deans of Nursing at South Dakota State University • Noelle Cockett Selected as the Next Provost at Utah State University • The New Leader of the College of Nursing at the University of Rhode Island • Holy Cross Celebrates 40th Anniversary of Coeducation • Six Women Join the Faculty at the University of Wisconsin Sheboygan • Thirteen Women With New Administrative Posts in Higher Education • MIT to Open a New Childcare Facility • Southern Methodist University to Review Sexual Assault Polices and Procedures • In Memoriam: Sue A. Schmidt, 1946-2012 • In Memoriam: Betty Hart, 1927-2012 • Recent Books That May Be of Interest to Women Scholars • Online Articles That May Be of Interest to WIAReport Readers • New Grants or Gifts Relating to Women in Higher Education CONNECT WITH US   Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Forward this to a Friend Advertise With Us   visit WIAReport.com | follow on Twitter | recommend on Facebook | forward to a friend

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Women in Academia Weekly Newsletter October 9, 2012

Diverse Issues in Higher Education: New Study Finds Millennials Well Prepared for the ‘Real World’

 

http://diverseeducation.com/article/48562/

 

Diverse Issues in Higher Education

October 8, 2012

New Study Finds Millennials Well Prepared for the ‘Real World’
by Lydia Lum

A new national study of young people suggests that the generation often regarded—and perhaps unfairly stereotyped—as being overly coddled and too often acting entitled is actually more practical than it is idealistic in attitudes about money and career preparation.

The recession and its lingering effects are heavily influencing the academic choices of the Millennial generation, according to leaders of the study of more than 5,600 people between ages 17 and 23 who are either college students or college-bound high school juniors and seniors.

A result of this mindset lies in the reasons given by study participants as to why they decided to apply for admission to a particular college. The top reason was that the institution offered the academic major the student planned to pursue, a response given by 55 percent of participants. Other popular reasons included affordable tuition, availability of scholarships or financial aid, likelihood of getting a job post-graduation and an academic “fit” for the student, with responses for those reasons varying from 51 to 41 percent.

Financial aid was particularly important to 88 percent of Black students and 87 percent of Hispanics, compared to only 76 percent of Whites. And 46 percent of Blacks and 41 percent of Hispanics were “extremely concerned” about how to afford college, compared with 30 percent of Whites.

Meanwhile, sports teams and Greek life don’t even crack the top 20 reasons for selecting a college, despite many universities aggressively showcasing such offerings, notes Deborah Maue, vice president of TRU, a Chicago-based, youth market research firm that commissioned the study.

“Young people may still be dreaming, but they’re thinking carefully about the risks involved with all of their decisions,” Maue says. Her firm has worked with global brands such as Nike and Google and organizations such as the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy in connecting with younger audiences.

Maue adds, “Economic uncertainties have become very apparent to young people because they have seen so many families struggling, sometimes their own.”

The shaky economy also has shaped what young people define as “success,” she says. Survey findings show that their top priority—91 percent of respondents chose this—was having an “enjoyable” job or career. Close behind were the ability to provide for their families, saving “a decent amount” of money, being debt-free and the ability to retire “comfortably.” These personal goals and values drew agreement from 85 percent or more of survey participants.

Furthermore, 49 percent listed “unemployment” as their most pressing social concern.

On the other hand, goals such as making “a lot” of money and having many friends were listed as signs of individual success by only 69 and 66 percent of all respondents, respectively. Even less important was “being famous” at 27 percent.

With college affordability such an important concern among minority participants, Maue says it wasn’t surprising to see that 33 percent of Blacks and 29 percent of Hispanics agreed that earning a degree from a community college—which typically charges substantially less tuition than four-year institutions—made “the most sense” for their individual career goals. Only 19 percent of Whites viewed community college in this manner.

The survey of Millennials, conducted from mid-April to mid-June, consisted of 70-plus questions on topics as wide-ranging as college search and decision-making, media consumption, lifestyles and social attitudes. Blacks made up about 16 percent of participants, Hispanics 14 percent.

Minorities, who were generally less likely than Whites to have college-educated parents experienced in the search process themselves, tended to seek input from multiple, trusted authority figures when shopping for a college, according to the TRU study. Survey findings showed that Hispanics, Blacks and Whites all considered their parents the “most influential” people in helping them choose a school. But Blacks and Hispanics were much more likely than Whites to get input from high school guidance counselors, teachers, coaches and college representatives.

Among survey participants, 56 percent of Whites had mothers who were college graduates, while that was true of only 50 percent of Blacks and 31 percent of Hispanics. And 56 percent of Whites reported having a father who’d finished college, compared with only 36 percent of Blacks and 31 percent of Hispanics.

Because so many first-generation college-goers rely on adults besides their parents, “universities ought to consider including high school coaches and teachers in their outreach,” Maue says. “Don’t send financial aid information to just the guidance counselors.”

But regardless of race, only one-third of the high school juniors and seniors in the study described themselves as feeling “prepared” for college. And only 11 percent of them described the process of obtaining financial aid as “very easy” to understand or “somewhat easy.”

This age group is scared about college,” Maue says. “They’re used to their parents scheduling their lives for them, so they’re frightened about becoming independent.”

Higher education institutions can help ease students’ transition “by overcommunicating,” she says. “Don’t just make information available on school websites and expect them to find it by themselves. If they need driving directions to campus, send them a map that has a big, red ‘X’ on it. Also, the net price calculator on school websites should be easy to find, and it should be clear what is and isn’t included in the institution’s net price.”

Released last week, the study launches TRU’s Enrollment Insights Program and the firm’s expansion into the higher education arena. A 30-year-old firm, TRU has previously worked with Alverno College, Michigan State and Iowa State universities and other educational entities.

For more information about the TRU study or to obtain a copy, visit http://www.tru-insight.com/highered

Diverse Issues in Higher Education: New Study Finds Millennials Well Prepared for the ‘Real World’